Expedition 15 Set to Return Home

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*Expedition 15 Set to Return Home*
19 October 2007
Image above: The crew members onboard the International Space Station
pose for a group photo in the Destiny laboratory of the International
Space Station. Credit: NASA
TO VIEW IMAGE GO
TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
As Expedition 15 wraps up and prepares to return home, the Expedition 16
crew members are busy preparing for the arrival of space shuttle Discovery.
At a change of command ceremony Friday afternoon, the Expedition 15 crew
formally handed over command of the station to Expedition 16.
Accepting command of the station from Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor
Yurchikhin, Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson remarked, "It's been a
very impressive mission, and you guys have performed exceptionally."
The crews will bid their final farewells Saturday night, as the
Expedition 15 crew, Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, board
their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft for the return to Earth. They will undock
from the station around 3:14 a.m. EDT Sunday and land in the steppes of
Kazakhstan around 6:37 a.m.
Joining Expedition 15 for the journey home is spaceflight participant
Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a Malaysian flying under an agreement with the
Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). He arrived at the station with
the Expedition 16 crew, Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, on
Oct 12.
NASA TV coverage of the crew farewells and hatch closure begins at 11:45
p.m. Saturday. Live coverage of the undocking starts at 2:45 a.m.
Sunday. Live coverage returns at 5:15 a.m. for the Soyuz deorbit burn
and landing.
Flight Engineer Clay Anderson, who joined Expedition 15 in June, will
remain onboard as a member of Expedition 16, until his replacement,
astronaut Dan Tani, arrives on the STS-120 shuttle mission later this
month.
+ View crew daily timelines
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html>
+ Read more about Expedition 15
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html>
+ Read more about Expedition 16
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition16/index.html>
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